1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a tofu (soybean curd) like food such as a soybean curd steak.
2. Prior Art
A soybean curd steak is usually produced by seasoning a rather hard soybean curd prepared by filtration through a cotton cloth. The soybean curd steak is cooked by, for example, being fried in an oil before served on the table.
Hitherto, various methods have been proposed for producing soybean curd steak. For instance, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication (hereinafter, referred to as J. P. Kokai) No. 62-146579 discloses a method which has the steps of boiling soybeans with saturated steam to obtain a soybean milk, adding a coagulating agent to the soybean milk to cause a coagulation so as to obtain soybean curd, pulverizing the coagulated soybean curd into particles and effecting primary dehydration, again pulverizing the primarily dehydrated soybean curd, mixing the soybean curd particles with the additives added as required, conducting secondary dehydration, cutting the soybean curd into a desired size, charging the cut soybean curd together with a filler water in a container and heating the soybean curd, and cooling the soybean curd in the container. Thus, the soybean curd steak is obtained merely by dehydrating, pulverizing the soybean curd into particles and then forming the particles into a steak. The soybean curd steak produced through this method, however, is crumbly and lacks elasticity when eaten after cooking. In addition, this steak tends to be collapsed during cooking.
On the other hand, J. P, Kokai No. 59-45847 discloses a food prepared by coagulating a soybean milk. More specifically, this method has the steps of press-filtering a coagulated product of a soybean milk so as to reduce the water content to 50 to 80%, forming the press-filtered product into a definite form, immersing the formed product in a diluted aqueous solution of alkali carbonate, draining the formed product, and coating the surface of the formed product with starch, whereby the texture and pleasantness to palate are improved. According to this method, the coagulated soybean milk is merely press-filtered but not mashed. In addition, the coagulated product is contacted with the diluted aqueous solution of alkali carbonate only at its surface. In consequence, the food produced by this method is still unsatisfactory in that the core portion of this food is crumbly and not elastic.